Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Global Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Pricing, Product Brands and Branding, Relationship Marketing, Retail Marketing.

Description: Welcome to Episode #207 of the Zacks Market Edge Podcast. Every week, host and Zacks stock strategist, Tracey Ryniec, will be joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds and ETFs and how it impacts your life. This week, Tracey is joined by Kevin Cook, Zacks Senior Equity Strategist, for a look at the hot stock market in 2020.

Source: Yahoo.Finance.com – video report

Date: Jan 08, 2020

Link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stocks-bull-bubble-153503947.html

Questions for discussion:

  • Explain the success of the Lululemon brand?
  • How might the stock’s success affect the brand?

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Global Marketing, Innovation, Marketing Research, Product Brands and Branding.

Description: With advice from friends like Oprah, the royal couple will likely follow the Obamas’ lucrative post-White House career model with philanthropy, book deals and Netflix

Source: MarketWatch.com

Date: Jan 11, 2020

Link: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-plan-to-be-financially-independent-but-only-one-of-them-can-legitimately-claim-that-status-2020-01-08?mod=home-page

Questions for discussion:

  • What are the marketing possibilities available?
  • How would you manage this opportunity?
  • Would becoming Governor General of Canada, (the Queen’s Representative) be a positive or negative for marketers?

Posted by & filed under Ethics, Global Marketing, Innovation, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Product Brands and Branding, Relationship Marketing, Supply Chain.

Description: Boeing employees boasted about bullying regulators to approve the now-grounded 737 Max without requiring pilots to undergo simulator training while others raised safety concerns and complained about lax standards, according to a trove of internal documents the company released on Thursday.

Source: CNBC.com – video report

Date: Jan 10, 2020

Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/09/boeing-releases-communications-on-737-max-simulators-it-calls-completely-unacceptable.html

Questions for discussion:

  • What does this report reveal about the “culture” within the firm at the time?
  • What motivated the firm to avoid the “flight training requirements”?
  • How much blame lies with the FAA?

Posted by & filed under Innovation, Product Brands and Branding, Supply Chain.

Description: The high-tech industry is as cyclical as any commodity

Source: Economist.com

Date: Jan 11, 2020

Link: https://www.economist.com/business/2020/01/11/a-revival-is-under-way-in-the-chip-business?cid1=cust/ednew/n/bl/n/2020/01/9n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/NA/375381/n

Questions for discussion:

  • Summarize the key points made about the industry in the report.
  • What does the report suggest about the near future for the industry?

Posted by & filed under Global Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Metrics/Analytics, Product Brands and Branding.

Description: In 2019, Instagram’s US user growth rate will have dropped to single digits for the first time to 6.7%, down from 10.1% in 2018. Starting in 2020, and through the end of our forecast period in 2023, we estimate that the social media platform will grow slower than previously expected.

Source: eMarketer.com

Date: Jan 02, 2020

Link: https://www.emarketer.com/content/instagram-user-growth-in-the-us-will-drop-to-single-digits-for-the-first-time

Questions for discussion:

  • What do these statistics suggest is the problem?
  • How should marketing respond to the challenge, in your opinion?

Posted by & filed under Global Marketing, Innovation, Product Brands and Branding.

Description: Tesla delivered a record 112,000 vehicles globally during the fourth quarter, significantly topping Wall Street estimates and achieving CEO Elon Musk’s year-end sales goal.

Source: CNBC.com – video report

Date: Jan 03, 2020

Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/03/tesla-tsla-4q-2019-production-and-delivery-numbers.html

Questions for discussion:

  • Why is Tesla’s sales level so significant an indicator?
  • How well do you think the Model 3 will sell globally? Explain.

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Global Marketing, Innovation, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Marketing Research, Relationship Marketing, Retail Marketing, Services Marketing.

Description: Welcome to Beautycon. For the uninitiated (or perhaps anyone over 35), Beautycon is a two-day festival that celebrates all things beauty and makeup — almost like a trade show turned carnival, where enthusiastic fans come to shop their favorite brands, get their hair done, take countless Instagram-worthy selfies, attend talks with Kim Kardashian and Laverne Cox, get face time with beloved YouTube influencers, and, of course, collect countless free samples. Cities from Dallas to London have hosted.

Source: Entrepreneur.com

Date: Dec 29, 2019

Link: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/325668?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email

Questions for discussion:

  • How does Beautycon represent a new style of communications?
  • Do you think this approach works for most products?
  • Summarize the communications lessons for marketers in this article?

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Ethics, Global Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Metrics/Analytics, Relationship Marketing, Services Marketing.

Description: Changing flights and redeeming reward points two issues customers are facing

Source: CBC.ca

Date: Dec 31, 2019

Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-air-canada-1.5411299

Questions for discussion:

  • What are the marketing problems facing the firm?
  • How should they deal with customer complaints?

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Global Marketing, Innovation, Marketing Strategy.

Description: What a difference a decade can make. In 2010, batteries powered our phones and computers. By the end of the decade, they are starting to power our cars and houses too.

Source:CNBC.com – video report

Date: Dec 30, 2019

Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/30/battery-developments-in-the-last-decade-created-a-seismic-shift-that-will-play-out-in-the-next-10-years.html?__source=iosappshare%7Ccom.apple.UIKit.activity.Mail

Questions for discussion:

  • How is battery technology disrupting industries and changing many of the products we buy?
  • How should businesses and consumers be expected to react as more technological improvements are introduced?

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Ethics, Global Marketing, Marketing Research, Relationship Marketing, Supply Chain.

Description: Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #703 – Host: Mitch Joel. He’s an old friend and someone who has experienced a tremendous amount of success in the technology and startup world. While many know his name… most do not. Let’s change that. Brett Hurt is the CEO and co-founder of data.world (of which I am an advisor), a Public Benefit Corporation focused on building the modern catalog for data and analysis as well as the world’s largest collaborative public data catalog. data.world helps you tap into more of your company’s collective brainpower—everyone from data scientists to nontechnical experts—so you can achieve anything with data, faster. Brett is also the co-owner of Hurt Family Investments (HFI), alongside his wife, Debra. HFI are involved in 72 startups and counting, mostly based in Austin. HFI are also invested in 21 VC funds and multiple philanthropic endeavors. Brett founded and led Bazaarvoice as CEO from 2005-2012, through its IPO (it hit over one billion dollars), follow-on offering, and two acquisitions (PowerReviews and Longboard Media). Prior to Bazaarvoice, Brett founded and led Coremetrics, which was rated the #1 Web analytics solution by Forrester Research and, like Bazaarvoice, expanded into a global company and category leader. Coremetrics was acquired by IBM in 2010 for around $300m. A three time winner in the startup and entrepreneurship world, Brett is also the author of the freely available, The Entrepreneur’s Essentials. Enjoy the conversation…

Source: SixPixels.com – podcast

Date: Dec 28, 2019

Link: https://www.sixpixels.com/podcast/archives/spos-703-brett-hurt-on-entrepreneurship-and-starting-up/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SixPixelsOfSeparation+%28Six+Pixels+of+Separation+-+Mitch+Joel%29

Questions for discussion:

  • What does Brett Hurt have to say to managers, investors and entrepreneurs?
  • What do you think about his attitude toward business?